Leader signals urgency

President Bush says progress is being made.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A day after winning approval of most of his Cabinet, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki conducted a rapid series of meetings with top government and security officials -- part of an orchestrated effort to signal urgency and leadership after a five-month power vacuum.
After a meeting with his ministers, al-Maliki vowed to use "maximum force against the terrorists and criminals" and repeated his intention to dismantle Iraq's armed militias.
The capital's continued violence underscored the difficulty of the task:
In a crowded downtown Baghdad restaurant, a man detonated explosives strapped to his waist, killing at least 13 people and wounding 18 others.
In east Baghdad, curious shoppers gathered around Iraqi policemen attempting to defuse a bomb planted at the entrance of the New Baghdad Market. The bomb exploded, killing three people and wounding 20.
In the northwest of the city, a car bomb parked along a road killed three Iraqis and wounded 15.
Officials at a Baghdad hospital reported receiving seven shooting fatalities and 13 people wounded by gunfire.
Saturday, al-Maliki won parliamentary approval of a 36-member Cabinet. He still needs to name leaders for the two most powerful ministries, Defense and Interior, as well as the National Security ministry, but promised to do so this week.
In a news conference, al-Maliki said he expected he would be able to name the remaining ministers in two or three days and acknowledged that establishing some sense of security was the most immediate problem his government faced.
Beyond force
"We are aware of the security challenge and its effects. So we believe that combating this challenge cannot be by the use of force only. Although we will use maximum force against the terrorists and criminals, in addition to military power, we also need national reconciliation in order for trust to prevail among all Iraqis."
Explaining the series of meetings with ministers, top generals, police leaders and Americans, including Army Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. military official in Iraq, Salah Abdul Razzaq, a spokesman for al-Maliki, said the new prime minister "wants to leave the impression that he is very concerned about security and that he wants to start right away to make plans for a new security program."
Bush administration officials seized on al-Maliki's new government as a sign of progress in Iraq.
President Bush told reporters at the White House that he had called al-Maliki and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Sunday to congratulate them and promise continuing U.S. support for Iraq's fledgling government.
Formation of the government marks "a new chapter in our relationship with Iraq," Bush said, adding that he had "assured them that the United States will continue to assist the Iraqis in the formation of a free country."